Tyron Carrier ready to make hometown impact as UH assistant coach

Tyron Carrier is pictured during his playing days at UH, where he tied an NCAA record with seven career touchdowns on kickoff returns.

Photo: Karen Warren, Staff / Chronicle

Since he heard the news that Tyron Carrier is headed back to Houston, Raymond Cain has been unable to hide his joy.

Cain, assistant principal at Lamar High School, met Carrier years ago at Attucks Middle School in Sunnyside, and the two forged a relationship that mirrors one of a father and son.

“It’s just sheer excitement,” Cain said. “I know how much he loves this city and his family and the University of Houston. All of those things are here. Now he is, too.”

Cain isn’t the only one happy about Carrier heading home to be Cougars assistant head coach/wide receivers coach on Dana Holgorsen’s staff. The former Worthing High School and UH standout athlete has touched so many in Houston by being a role model and mentor. He also has been a shining example for so many others who started out where he did.

“I consider him my son,” Cain said. “And to have him back home is more special than I can explain.”

Carrier grew up in South Park, a neighborhood in the south-central part of the city. During his childhood in the 1990s, South Park was riddled with crime. Carrier said at a young age he hoped he would be able to make it out of the neighborhood.

Pichon, now principal at Johnson Junior High in Channelview ISD, also grew up in South Park. He taught at the elementary school there in hopes of showing children from the area they had options to get away from it.

“I think we all love our neighborhood and where we are from, but it is an area where there is always a feeling that this is the ceiling,” Pichon said. “You can’t imagine doing better. It’s a reality that few overcome.”

Carrier seemed determined to from a young age. Pichon said that as a fifth-grader, Carrier displayed three types of toughness: mental, physical and emotional.

“I knew he didn’t have the easiest upbringing, but he worked hard at school, he really paid attention, and he was really inquisitive,” Pichon said. “He was a great athlete, and other students looked up to him.”

Those qualities, Pichon said, helped pave the way for Carrier’s future. He would go on to be a star athlete at Worthing in football and track. UH offered him a spot in both sports, and he committed. He injured his ankle as a high school senior, but the school honored his scholarship.

Carrier quickly showed that then-UH coach Kevin Sumlin was wise to do so. He finished his career tied for the NCAA record with seven kickoff returns for touchdowns. He also set an NCAA record with two or more receptions in all 53 of his games at UH. He ended up with 320 receptions for 7,490 yards.

In addition, he ran on the track team and competed in the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials, where he ran the 200 in 20.54 seconds.

Achieving all of that wasn’t easy. Carrier, who suffers from asthma, came down with the flu the summer before he started at UH.

By that time, Cain had become a close family friend. Carrier’s mother was between homes at the time and asked if he could help and take in Carrier.

“There was no question,” said Cain, a single father. “I was happy to have him.”

For the next several years, Carrier lived with Cain on and off. Cain was working on a master’s degree and then a doctorate during the time.

“We would talk about a lot,” Cain said. “I would bounce ideas off of him. He was incredibly smart and interesting. It was a great time for both of us, I think.”

Carrier would wake up every morning by 5:30 a.m. to head to school for workouts. He was home in the evening studying alongside Cain and keeping up well with his classes and athletics.

“His drive and passion were evident,” Cain said. “It was clear he would be successful.”

Whether he knew it at the time, Carrier was picking up a lot from Cain.

“To be a good coach, you have to be a teacher,” Carrier said. “I learned that from Dr. Cain. He was a great influence on me and really helped transform me.”

Cain and Pichon are two of the men Carrier credits with helping raise him into the person he’s become. There are others — coaches, teachers, friends. Carrier watched the people he admired and picked up their best qualities.

“He was always studying people,” Pichon said.

After college, Carrier played two seasons for the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. He had one NFL tryout and eventually decided to coach. He spent one season as a graduate assistant at Baylor before joining Holgorsen’s staff at West Virginia.

Last week, Holgorsen hired him at UH.

“It’s special,” Carrier said. “I had to scratch and claw to get out of my neighborhood. I worked hard. I think that’s something I can show others that they can do, too.”

Carrier’s path and his success will speak volumes to recruits in the area. He’s a shining example of overcoming the odds.

“He didn’t have it easy,” Cain said. “Being from where he is from and then having injuries that held him back. But he always found a way to stay the course and to follow his passion.

“He cares a lot about the University of Houston. His dedication and perseverance will help that program. He’s going to make a difference.”

Jenny Dial Creech, a native of San Antonio and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, started at the Houston Chronicle in 2005 as a high school sports reporter. She has since covered an array of beats and served as an assistant sports editor and senior editor of Texas Sports Nation. Creech is the president of the Association for Women in Sports Media and was awarded the 2015 APSE Diversity Fellowship. In addition to her role at the Houston Chronicle, Creech also works with several high school and college journalists at Columbia University journalism conferences and workshops.